Trump's new plan for America's top universities
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2025
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
There is a new deal on the table for universities in America. After months of fighting with the Trump administration over funding cuts, free speech and allegations of elitism and racism, the new deal is being offered to a select group of universities who are now weighing up how to respond.
Anthony and Justin unpack the proposal from the White House, which promises “substantial and meaningful federal grants” in return for signing up to Trump’s new vision for American colleges. The Trump administration says it will tackle elitism and racial bias, but opponents of the deal say it damages academic freedom and limits free speech.
Inez Stepman, Senior Policy and Legal Analyst for the Independent Women’s Forum and Independent Women’s Law Centre joins Anthony and Justin. She is an education specialist whose views have inspired the White House and influenced its decision making when it comes to higher education in America.
HOSTS: • Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
GUEST: Inez Stepman, Senior Policy and Legal Analyst for the Independent Women’s Forum and Independent Women’s Law Centre
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.9 | What's going to happen to American universities? There is a new deal on the table for them, |
| 0:12.0 | according to the Trump administration. They say they're going to persuade the universities |
| 0:16.2 | to address long-standing biases, elitism, racial discrimination as well. The universities, or at least |
| 0:23.0 | many of them, say that undermines their prestige. It undermines as well their First Amendment |
| 0:28.8 | rights over free speech. So what is the nature of academic freedom in Donald Trump's America? |
| 0:36.1 | It is a huge cultural question, but it's also one that's been brought to a head by the |
| 0:41.9 | Trump administration, one that a lot of Americans feel very strongly about, including the |
| 0:46.8 | many Americans, most Americans, who don't go anywhere near an elite college. |
| 0:51.5 | We're going to hear in a second from someone who has a very strong view and is a |
| 0:55.6 | supporter of the Trump administration. Welcome to AmeriCast. Americaast. America from BBC News. |
| 1:04.8 | When Donald Trump calls, they say, yes, sir. Right away, sir. Happy to lick your boot, sir. We are the |
| 1:10.6 | sickest country in the world. |
| 1:12.5 | Oh, dear, are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry? |
| 1:16.1 | Of course the president supports peaceful protest. |
| 1:18.1 | What a stupid question. |
| 1:19.1 | Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? |
| 1:32.3 | Hello, it's Justin in the worldwide headquarters of AmeriCast in London, England. |
| 1:36.7 | And it's Anthony in the Washington headquarters of AmeriCast in Washington. |
| 1:41.6 | And we're going to be joined very shortly by someone who the Trump administration has very much listened to on the subject of universities, and indeed it's |
| 1:44.4 | probably fair to say, been inspired by when it comes to cutting their funding, sorting them |
| 1:50.0 | out, as the White House would say. She is Inez Stepman, she's a lawyer, she's an education |
... |
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